The DailyBrief

Chinese President Xi Jinping told US President-elect Donald Trump in a phone call on Monday that cooperation was the only choice for relations between the two countries, Chinese state media said. Trump had lambasted China throughout the US election campaign, drumming up headlines with his pledges to slap 45% tariffs on imported Chinese goods and to label the country a currency manipulator on his first day in office.
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Samsung Electronics agreed to buy Harman International Industries for about US$8 billion in a deal that enables the South Korean conglomerate to expand its presence in the auto parts market. Board members of Samsung — the world’s largest producer of smartphones — approved the all-cash acquisition of the Connecticut-based firm for US$112 a share, which represents a premium of 28% to Harman’s Friday closing price.
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with senior ministers till the early hours of Monday morning to review demonetization and its impact. The meeting came amid chaos across the country over limited cash availability after 1,000 rupee and 500 rupee notes were taken out of circulation.
Asia Times staff

Thousands of tonnes of urban waste are hidden behind scrubbed white walls at a new power plant on the outskirts of the Chinese city of Wujiang, with even its chimney disguised as a clock tower. Desperate to fight mounting trash problems but wary of public opposition, China is building new incineration capacity designed to blend into its surroundings and limit environmental damage.
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Japan’s economic growth handily beat expectations in the July-September period, expanding for a third straight quarter as exports recovered, but weak domestic activity cast doubt on hopes for a sustainable economic recovery. Government data issued on Monday underscored a potentially fragile export-reliant economic recovery just as Republican Donald Trump’s shock victory in the US presidential election was adding to uncertainty over the global economic outlook.
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